From the Riverside
by Lilith Evy
Summary: The story about two orphan elf siblings' lives and war. Takes place at the War of the Rings, to which it extends to elven life and ends peacefully. / It is a chance in your hand to save a whole race, and a chance to heal your cursed sister. Follow the trail of Eli Ril throughout his path in Middle-Earth, and to see his struggle and salvation. ON HIATUS TILL JULY. PLS BEAR WITH ME.
1. Prologue

**Prologue / Newest Version/Proofread by Alicia457**

"Eli, are you listening to me?" A weak voice whispered heavily. "Eli, my child?"

"Yes, nana." The elf boy who was called Eli answered with tears in his eyes. "Please tell me that you are not passing away." He kneeled beside the bed, holding the elf maid's hand and sobbed.

"Eli, pack all your belongings immediately." Eli's mother uttered those choppy words with very short breath. "You must leave now. I've already requested Lord Elrond for taking care of you. He's the only hope of saving your sister. Leave the woods and ride to Rivendell, my son. Take your bow and take your sword. Don't look back, ride straight. Do you understand, Eli?"

"Nana...Don't leave me behind... Don't leave Lilith... I don't want you to go... " Eli cried out loud.

"It's no use." Eli's mother struggled a smile. "I can already see the white shores. Eli, my son. I'm just sailing away, which you will also do eventually. I shall bid you farewell now, but remember who killed your parents and cursed your sister. Always strive for the righteous side. You shall never fall into the dark powers. You shall battle it till the very end of your days. Remember Eli, ride straight and don't look back." As Eli's mother said her very last words, the light in her eye darkened and disappeared.

"No! No, NANA!" Eli shouted. His tears fell like a rainstorm. But slowly he picked up his bow and ran to tell another elf to tide his mother's remains. His steps were heavy. He could not control the huge sorrow that lied in his heart. But he also couldn't reveal it. He never could. As a brother with huge responsibilities, Eli must accept his duty and take his sister to Rivendell.

"Go on, Delia! Good girl, make haste!" Eli rode on his horse Delia with his sister Lilith, who lost her consciousness in front of him. He often observed Lilith's face to see if she was okay while riding. But this didn't affect their travel process at all – Eli was taught to ride, to shoot and to wield a sword since the very day he was 6, and now he was excellent at it.

Days and nights passed like if they were arrows to the target. Eli entered the borders of Rivendell.

"The Valley of Imladris... That's quite a sight I've never seen before." He said to himself while he admired the brilliant scenery of Rivendell. He continued to ride until he reached the Entry Bridge. He swiftly came down from the horse, brought Lilith with him, and walked directly to the chamber of healing.

"Two elf children, one is conscious and another not. I was informed that you would come." Lindir said carefully as he scanned over them with his eyes.

"My name is Eli and this is my sister Lilith. Please, we need help from Lord Elrond. My sister is in grave danger." Eli begged, helplessly.

"Come with me then." Lindir said.

"According to Tethair's letter you two should be Ril and Evy." Lilith was lying on a bed unconsciously as Elrond looked at the paper and uttered their names in elvish. "I was entreated to heal Evy and take care of you." He finished up with a glance upon Eli.

"I'm also called Eli in common tongue and my sister is called Lilith." Eli explained. "Please help us, Lord Elrond. We traveled a great distance to Rivendell and seek for a stable life. My mother said that you are the only hope of saving my sister."

"Indeed." Elrond replied quickly. "Your sister's wound will heal eventually, but some part of it is beyond my ability of healing. I heard of your father Caladar. He is a true elvish warrior." He ended somewhat giving compliments.

But Eli seemed not to be focusing on that. "Which part is beyond your ability?" He asked.

"Your sister is cursed. I have heard of the tale." Elrond sighed. "I can do nothing to break it."

"What curse?" Eli asked urgently.

"When your father slew the leader of the orc pack in that massive attack at the north of Mirkwood, he accidentally stepped on one small piece of black crystal in that orc filth's pocket. Thus he released a dark spell that was brought from Dol Guldor which curses the youngest descendent of the spell-releaser. Your sister will be trapped in the war and forced to kill for all her life. And when she touches others with her bare hand, that area of skin will burn and leave an ugly fiery mark. " Elrond said with a pitch of pity.

"How could..." Eli cried. The life was crashing him down to pieces. He is only a young elf. He could not bear so many things at once. "What have I ever done!" He smashed his bow onto the ground.

"I believe that the gloves will help." Lindir walked towards Eli and tried to pacify him – This elf boy, innocent and purer than anybody he ever met, has surely touched the deepest part of his heart and sympathy. "Isn't it, my Lord Elrond?"

Elrond nodded, then squatted till Eli can see him clear enough. He wiped out the tears on the boy's face and whispered: "Don't be afraid, don't panic, my dear Ril. Henceforth you and your sister shall live in my protection. I had already foreseen that you two will be involved in a great war. Don't worry to much about your life and your sadness. It will pass. You are safe now, safe here in Rivendell."

Eli nodded with a bit of ignorance and finally smiled.


	2. Chapter 1 Morn

**Chapter 1 Morn**

Eli opens the curtains. There is a stream not far away from his chamber, the stream he crossed one thousand two hundred ninety years ago to go into the borders of Rivendell. He sighs, it has been so many years, uncountable days and nights, and time killed the memory in his head of his mother. He barely remembers what she looked like, and he forgot her name long ago. Alas, there are too many things for Eli to do, to worry and to remember. He looks down to the Sant (garden). He smells the rosemary that Lilith planted two months ago. It reminds him of Lilith. He lifts his right hand, there is a dark, dusty fiery mark upon his wrist.

It came from her.

Accidentally, she touched Eli when they played together. Eli still remembers the pain, it strived straight into his heart. It was like the whole world is behind him, only pain was at the front. Fire danced on his wrist with a villainous laughter. But he endured. He bore the pain in his heart but chose to smile on face. Lilith was unknown of the curse and she wasn't aware that she hurt her brother. But she was known of her power later, after Elrond saw Eli's scar, he just explained it to Lilith. Lilith accepted the situation and the fact that she was cursed, but she was still unknown that she hurt her brother. Eli wasn't childish, no, Eli was mature. He didn't squeal or cry afterwards, he accepted it. Just like how Lilith become aware of the fact that she was cursed.

There is never a chance for Eli to be childish.

Eli dresses up as fast as he could, it is a big day to him. Today, Lilith's birthday. He grabs his carve equipments and rushes down to the Sant. In the morning light he sees Lilith, standing there in a pure white dress, turning around facing him and smiling, as if the dawn that decorates her is the cleanest thing in the world. He also smiles. He loves to see Lilith smile. Although he still remembers Elrond's foresight that there will be a great war, and he doesn't know how long will she continue to be smiling like this. He walks towards her.

"Did you bring it?" Lilith asks eagerly, she grabbed Eli's sleeve.

Suddenly, Eli becomes vigilant. He runs for a few steps away from Lilith, and says in a volume that is neither high nor low: "Your gloves."

"No, Eli! I want to let my hands free in the air. I feel more comfortable without the gloves." Lilith indicates, she takes out her bow and signals Eli.

"No, Lilith. Stop being capricious. Put on your gloves, we don't want anybody to get hurt. The thing about it, we did discuss it before." Eli forces Lilith without any point of "mercy".

"No, I would not. If you say another word, I touch you or I shoot you." Lilith suddenly steeps herself in a very bad mood.

"Lilith, we did talk about it before." Eli lifts up his both hands as a somewhat defense, staring at Lilith seriously, "Don't." He rolls his eyes.

Lilith doesn't put down her bow and arrow, but after a while when she calms down, she put down the bow and her arrow but still glaring at Eli angrily, "I've still got my hands."

"Stop, being, childish." Eli states out his thought word by word, "You are taking it and conceal it inside, Lilith, and not using the curse to threaten people. Seriously, Lilith, when are you going to grow up, when? This year, this day, you are already one thousand and three hundred years old. You should actually start to take responsibilities."

"I am taking responsibilities." Lilith stares at Eli arrogantly, "I'm the Chief of Rivendell Armies. Lord Elrond want me to lead the war when it is upon us."

Eli sighs heavily. Lilith doesn't know why she is the Chief. Long ago when the curse started to unfold, Elrond discovered Lilith's fighting ability because of the curse forced her to kill. Elrond don't want Lilith to feel bad about it, so he brought Lilith with him, with his two sons to hunt orcs in many cases. Before he did that, he asked Eli if he allows him to do it. Eli said yes. It is a clever use of the curse, actually the curse can be cleverly used in many cases. But the thing that intrigues Eli is Lilith's love of war and passionate of fighting herself. He knows clearly it isn't because of the curse. His father, was also a man that was in love with war and weapons. He says nothing as a respond to Lilith.

"I think you shouldn't be here right now. Lord Elrond sent you to Rohan to deliver a message." Lilith says half asking half stating.

"Who told you that?" Eli laughs out loud. "No. Lord Elrond gave me a day off because of your birthday."

"He didn't gave me a day off," Lilith pouts, "why, it is my birthday, not yours."

Eli sighs again. He discovers that he really sighs a lot when he stays with Lilith. He says: "Give me your bow."

"Yes!" Lilith seems exhilarated, "You promised. Carve nicely." She hands him her bow carefully – with gloves on and without touching Eli. "There. You carve here, I go take care of my rosemaries."

So a peaceful day goes on, which doesn't appear regularly. Eli heedfully carves Lilith's bow, decorates it with the ancient patterns and sentences of warriors of old. There they are, under the setting sun, with the wind blowing straight towards them. Lilith stretches, and whispers to Eli, "I wish every day could be like this."

Suddenly, footsteps approaches. Elrohir appears before Lilith has finished speaking. Eli and Lilith bow. Elrohir nods towards Eli, and then tells Lilith: "Training begins at dawn. Be on time, Lilith. This time you will be mentoring knife and dagger skills." He then smiles and leaves.

"Okay then..." Lilith blows, "Looks like now couldn't be forever..."

"...And I shall be on my way." Eli continues the sentence.


	3. Chapter 2 Road to the Woodland Realm

**Chapter 2 Road to the Woodland Realm**

"Make haste, Delian. We will camp with in 2 hours. The sun is starting to disappear. Quickly, run." Eli mutters to his horse while riding, they fast through the land like a wind. Eli feels wonderful, wind comes towards his face and blows his dark hair up. A beautiful sight of sunset was upon them. Eli's brown horse, names Delian, after Eli's first horse. Eli's first horse names Delia, he loves her more than any living animal on earth. But Eli was to young to understand that not all living in the world lives through eternity. Horses will die. When Delia lost her last breath, Eli cried for quite a period of time with Lindir aside of him pacifying him. From that day all of Eli's horses were named after Delia: Deli, Delio, Delie, Deria... A huge amount of variations were created.

Now Eli is tired, alas, too tired for even built camps. So he just let Delian go and fetch some water, while himself rests under a tree. Before he go into his dreams, he prays: "O Elbereth Gilthoniel, please makes everything just okay for Lilith. Please make a safe journey a head of me. Please make sure everything goes normal in Rivendell. Please make sure that father and mother rest in peace. Please make sure Lilith and I shoot straight... And please make neither thunder nor orc pack come near me."

It's like Eli has done something bad in his past life, life always opposites him. The howl of the wargs awakes him from those deep, deep dreams. Eli quickly arms himself with a sword, and when he's ready, he sees a squad of orcs on wargs enemies him, fifteen at least. Villainous laughter, he hears it once more. Eli estimates his energy left and time of battling, "I can perish them," he thinks, "that is only a flip of a hand. The thing is I'm tired now, I don't know how long I will be able to hold on." Eli closes his eyes and prays to Elbereth once more, then walks towards the orc pack wielding his sword fearlessly.

There he is, boldly facing those foul creatures. They approach each other, and so a fight begins. Blood, the orc blood dark as ink spills everywhere. Eli's face skin was cut open, the wound burns as if salt are spilled upon it. Eli doesn't care about it. He slashes, chops, strikes, destroys every single orc he can see. He is exhausted, he cannot fight anymore. He feels every single movement of him slowly eats off his store of energy. He's leg like logs, no longer can move. But it is almost dawn, there is only one single orc left, but it is a master one.

Long hair, dusty skin, blood-red eyes. That orc runs towards Eli with a cry, "SPELL RELEASER'S HEIR!" and strikes Eli's head with his knife-like weapon. Eli flashes back and swiftly, drops off the sword and picks up his bow and arrows on the ground with two hands. He turns around shoots directly into the orcs heart. The orc stretches and is still moving towards Eli, so he just uses two arrows to pierce through its body. The process was coherent, and as fast as no language could able to fully describe it.

Eli lies down powerlessly on the ground. He sees the sunlight of a brand-new day, he sees the blood slowly forms a stream down to the lake, and he smiles weakly. He won. He has totally no strength to even move his finger. He just lie there, as the grass embraces the sunshine, as Delian comes towards him and bear him up, he knows that he need to rest for a while temporarily. But not too long, for he bears the message from Lord Elrond and he must deliver it, dead or alive.

But Eli noticed something is wrong immediately. That orc leader he just killed shouted about his father, the spell-releaser and him.

* * *

Eli doesn't rest for night this day.

Ha, that's the thing about being a messenger. Sometimes you don't even have a chance to rest and have a good meal, sometimes when the deadline of arrival approaches, you should ride on day and night. No matter the horse is tired or not. Even if the horse is exhausted and about to die, you should go by foot. And run. Eli is an experienced messenger. Or maybe to experienced. Even you are just night raided by orcs, even you think that there will never be another strength in your body, no use. Arrival date is the most important. Sometimes in war, a simple three-word message means ally or not, and it could decide hundreds and thousands of people's lives. So messenger is a very important job especially at war, isn't it? If there is a war coming up, usually Eli go send a message about that an army lead by Lilith will soon come to support as an ally. That does happen.

Slowly they meet the dawn. The sunlight, glorious orange color eclipses a crack in the clouds. The grassland is quiet, all Eli can hear is the unstoppable hurrying steps of Delian. "Ride hard, girl, we are almost there." He whispers to Delian. But a thought of whip guiltily flies through his mind. Elves never needed whips to pacify and tam animals, they want to be close to nature more than any species. So nature beloved them, gave them the ability of taming animals easily. Or are they actually taming? Or treating the animals as a friend and assistant and asking them to work respectfully? There's no time for Eli to think about that. He better hurry.

But suddenly, a shout of a female elf comes from 1 mile behind Eli. "Eli Ril! Eli son of Caladar!" Eli stops, curiously looking back to the sound source. He recognizes that the voice came from Valadhiel, another messenger from Rivendell. She is the few who is very close to Lilith, therefore she is also a friend of Eli.

"Valadhiel." As the she-elf catches up on Eli, he calls her name, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be training the troops?"

"No," Valadhiel breathes heavily, "I was appointed to look for you. I was told to catch you and stop you from going to Rohan." She finishes speaking and straightly stares at Eli.

"Why?" Eli says, "Speak quickly."

"Relax, Eli. I'm your friend, not foe. Lord Elrond needs you to change the routine and go to Mirkwood immediately, and I will be taking over the mission of sending the message to Rohan. Now here is the order from Lord Elrond in a scroll. Is that clear?" Valadhiel smiles and hands Eli a parchment scroll.

"Is the message urgent?" Eli asks, "Is is about military or others?"

"Well," Valadhiel shakes her head, "it's about commercial trade between Mirkwood and Rivendell. No rush."

"That certainly makes me feel better." Eli responds quickly, "Do you know the message to Rohan? Do you know the way?" He suddenly asks Valadhiel, concerned.

"Yes, yes but," Valadhiel lifts her neck and asks smiling, "are you worrying about me?"

"No I'm not." Eli changes back to the indifferent elf as he used to be, "I'm caring about the message and the benefit of Rivendell." He says, and waves: "Be on your way."

Valadhiel sighs, "You are never quite a gentleman, Eli." Then she turns her horse around and rides off to Rohan. Eli watches her disappear into the green with no facial expression at all, and then goes swiftly upon Delian and rides to Mirkwood.

* * *

Eli rides forward. Following Anduin and to the forest river, he now has reached the borders of Mirkwood. Trees, high, ancient trees attaches to the riverbank, only left a very narrow path for riding and delivering goods. Eli comes down from the horse, and observes the environment carefully. The further you look into the woods, the darker is the tone you see. Eli is surprised of what he sees. He can see the carcases of some kind of dark creatures, this reminds him that he haven't returned home for a very long time. Indeed, he was born between those high, mysterious woods, it brought him the feeling of home. He remembered those days of sunshine crossing through the trees and practicing archery down in the forest, when Mirkwood was still called Greenwood the Great. But things has changed, and not totally towards a better way. Eli loves this land, but he feels that an illness thrives through it. Oh, what other things does he remember about this piece of land? It is weird, he represents Rivendell and come here with a message, but in his body floats the blood of Silvan Elves. He sighs, and rides on.

As he enters the dark, gloomy borders of Mirkwood, one elf appears suddenly and stops Eli with her bow and arrow. The elf said, "I was told that there will be a messenger arriving our land these days. From my observation, thou should come from Rivendell. Are thou the messenger? My name is Lostariel, and welcome to Mirkwood."

Eli smiles. What do they say about the wood elves? Less wise, but way more dangerous. He responds in a joyous mood: "If I was you, I would have confirmed the identity with the stranger by a token the stranger carries that indicate where one belongs. That would me more wise. Or a wild man can disguised as an elf and sneak into your realm and steal information." Eli comes down from the horse and gives her the scroll, "I am Eli, son of Caladar Ex-Chief of Mirkwood Armies. On behalf of Rivendell, I bring the message from Lord Elrond. Concerning commercial things. Please bring that to King Thranduil. Now my duty is done." Eli turns around and ready to leave.

"If I am you, I would have go into the woods and deliver the scroll myself. That would be more wise. Or a wild man can disguise as me and pretend he is patrolling and steal information." Lostariel smiles and strikes back to Eli. "The King has long desired to see the heirs of Caladar. He know what happened to your father in that war. Eli, go into the woods, go deliver the message yourself. I heard of your name long ago. Eli, go. Go discover the truth yourself. Save your sister. I will accompany you." Lostariel says faithfully.

"You know me." Eli replies, "Why? How? Did the Tale of Caladar the Brave spread over Mirkwood already? How come? How could? Did my father's body been discovered?" A bunch of the questions follow on.

"Not only been discovered," Lostariel utters the words as if she is tasting bitter in her mouth, "come with me."

Eli rides into the woods slowly, and looks around. "Wow, this place is... Filthy and dark." He says, as Delian kicks of the spider webs on her hoof, "How did it come to this? I remembered Greenwood the Great a beautiful and prosperous forest land."

"Aye," Lostariel replies in a dark tone as she walks and try to keep up with Eli, "since last time we got the information of a darker force is coming towards our land, King Thranduil has blocked the kingdom. No one in, nor out unless of great purpose. And those dark creatures grew bolder and add on to the illness of the forest each day." Lostariel breathes heavily, she cannot compete with horses on running.

All of a sudden, Valadhiel's voice strikes through Eli's head: "You are never quite a gentleman, Eli." Where have your manners go? Eli thinks to himself. Why Lostariel is walking and you are riding upon Delian? Where is the point of an elf gentleman? So he goes down from Delian and gently asks Lostariel whether she wants to ride the horse or not.

"Oh no," Lostariel laughs out loud, "I don't need the horse now. You should've asked me earlier. Behold the great hall of the Elven King, we are now at the door."

* * *

"So, you are Eli then. Son of Caladar the Brave. I've heard of your escape from the forest to the valley." King Thranduil says while he sips from the glass in his hand, and ended sarcastically as Eli bows.

"We were seeking help of Lord Elrond, to save my sister's life, your highness." Eli replies as carefully as he could.

"Indeed, and now you are representing him to bring me messages." Thranduil sneers, "But speaking of messages, Caladan is working quite well in these parts." He sits down on his throne.

"Ur... Yes, he always do." Eli says awkwardly.

"You sure have no idea who I am talking about." Thranduil derides, and stands up boldly, "Caladan, messenger of Mirkwood, your uncle, the one who teaches archery at your youth. Now, enough of mocking. So what is the point of you requesting to speak with me?"

"Uh? Ah, yes." Eli is alarmed, "I have come here to speak with you, King Thranduil of Mirkwood, not on behalf of Lord Elrond but my own concerns and matters. Long have I desired to know about my father's miserable ending. So I beg you, your highness of the woodland realm, to tell me about my father's remains. Where did you find his body? And what token did he bore when you found him? I was too young to understand, but I eagerly want to know about it know, and I believe that this will help me to find the solution to my sister's curse." he says decently with good manners, and as he finishes, he lowers his head.

"Rivendell styled braids and clothing, deep gray eyes, silky white skin, a totally-not-wood-elf-alike." Thranduil sizes up Eli again, then says with a dark tone, "When we found your father's remains he was nothing but a small pile of dust. The orcs from Dol Goldor has took his body away. No information of him has been heard ever again. Now tell me Eli Ril from Rivendell, does, that, help, you?" Thranduil says word by word to end his sentence, and this somewhat amuses him.

Eli says no word to reply, but to stand there with his head lowered.

"I suggest you move on your journey, and ride south. Near the Gladden River, where the mighty hero of the past has dropped the token of power, you could find your answer by chance. Leave now, meet the dawn and make haste." Thranduil nods towards him, so Eli bows and leaves the hall. He rides like a wind out from the forest rapidly with Delian as Lostariel waves him goodbye.

Eli decides to ride back to Rivendell and report his return first, then ask for leave to explore the land besides Gladden River. As he rides through the mist and pokes out a clear line, the moonlight shines clearer upon the sky.


	4. Chapter 3 Chief of Rivendell Armies

**Chapter 3 Chief of Rivendell Armies**

"Line up!" Lilith shouts in elvish, "If the enemy is orderless, ranks will sure help you and your fellow fighters a lot." Lilith walks in a horizontal line in front of one hundred Rivendell elf warriors, "I am Lilith, daughter of Caladar, your mentor for knife and dagger skills. In short, surgery. You are with me for today, and I hope what I will teach you is heedful to your ears and helpful to Rivendell's military. Get your weapons out and be ready!"

Lilith is way to loud in order to let one hundred people hear. The other troops in training, each led by Elladan, Elrohir, Dorcalen, Landion and Nellethiel. Even the troop farthest away, led by Dorcalen, can hear the massive earth-explosive voice of Lilith. They are interrupted, everyone except Lilith is interrupted.

As the eldest son of Lord of Rivendell, Elladan stands to the situation. He commands Lilith, "Lilith, lower your voice."

Lilith stares at him with an angry mood, but she must do what she've been asked. Lilith whispers to the troop, "Can...You...Hear...Me..." The troop shake their heads.

"Lilith, louder." Elladan commands once more.

A smile falls on Lilith's lips. She shouts, "Now lets begin! Spread out! Spread! Pretend there's a massive deadly deathless orc warrior in front of you. You must pierce through all its important parts of the body in order to kill it. How would you do it? Show me! Let me see how good you are! Then I shall decide what to teach."

Elrohir shakes his head, "Too stubborn and no parent to teach her the manners." Elladan agrees with him by nodding.

* * *

All is silent. Lilith steps on the greenish-blue grass of Laica [means green in Quenya], a small area of wood near Rivendell. Early the second day's troop training was finished, where she mentored for archery. Now she is allowed to come here, to a place of her own. Here, she can take off her gloves which protects her from harming people, and embrace the woods, feel their breath.

She loves to be here. With her bare hands her skin, feeling the texture of trees, watching the little birds and rabbits bumping around. But she cannot touch them. Once she lifted up a rabbit in injury with her bare hands – as you can imagine, that rabbit died immediately in pain of burning. She felt sorry for it but there is nothing she could do. Eli said to her "You know, Lilith, you must pay for your carelessness in this world.", which she didn't understood.

Lilith walks straight into the deepest part of Laica. There is a mysterious light, faintly comes down from the sky. Lilith sees it, and she walks towards it. It's so light as if it's not truly existed, but Lilith immerses into it, enjoying the feel that the white light has bring her. She is so delighted, she starts to dance. She is still in fighting clothing as she didn't have time to change after the training, but as she turns, steps, stretches, leaps, you sure want to hold her hand and tell her how well she danced, in which you cannot. But as Lilith dances with sweat, she hears noises, two voices talks. In elvish. She is sure of it, and the sound come from another side of Laica. Lilith is very familiar with the woods, so she just rushes to it, soundlessly.

Lilith hides behind a tall yew tree. She looks to the sound source sneakily, and what she sees is astonishing. "Lady Arwen!" She shouts without voice, her mouth opens. She turns back to the yew tree, and suddenly starts to ponder about it: How could she? Why will she be with that man? What are they doing? They seems very close to each other! Does Lord Elrond know about it? Will it affect their relations? Who is that person? Why is he not an elf?... Lots of questions like bubbles upon the sea, floating in Lilith's mind. But she feel delighted, too. Perhaps because she hadn't gossiped for years.

"I will tell Eli, that's for sure," She thinks, "but I will not be the one who tells Lord Elrond. On the other hand, he maybe already knows about it." But the question that is really perplexing her is that who is the man? Lilith doesn't interact or chat with Lady Arwen frequently, nor they have many chances to meet each other. Because Lilith has put her hand on military, so she meet more often with Elladan and Elrohir. Lady Arwen usually spend her time in her chambers, but sometimes she goes out for a walk and practices sword skills, too. How could she even had a chance to met someone that is not an elf and even got so close with him?!

"Okay, then," Lilith closes her eyes, and sneaks out from Laica. Still, she is quite excited of what she discovers today.

* * *

Lilith changes her clothes as quick as possible. She let the green-black fighting clothing slip down from her body, and soon off to her closet, and wonders what she should wear. Finally she picks one long robe-dress that is sky blue, and she whispers to herself, "This should look gentle and mild. Clothing will be very important at this point. Right then." She fetches some water in the well to clean her face, and ties up her hair in the traditional elf style. She put a blue hairband onto her dark, smooth hair, and then put a circlet around her wrist. The circlet was from her father, Eli has one, too. It means luck to her, in which case she needs most today.

Lilith takes a deep breath, then boldly walks out from her chamber. It is autumn now, leaves on the ground, cool breeze smashes the buildings. The sky is extremely high, and Lilith feels fresh and cooler that ever. She walks towards Elrond who is waiting for her in the lookout point. She bows.

"Lord Elrond." She calls.

"Lilith." Elrond answers, and puts down his book, "Nice clothing. Different and better than the fighting clothing that you always wear. Why you want to see me today?"

"I come here to ask for a job." Lilith lowers her head, "I have long desired for it, and I only lack your permission."

"And what is that?" Unexpectedly, Elrond seems interested, "Let me hear your thought."

Lilith hesitates for few seconds, and then lifts her head and said word by word: "I wanted to serve you daughter, Lady Arwen. I will be a good maid. I will accompany her when she needs me, I will leave if she wants time of her own."

Elrond seems astonished, he answers in a dark tone, "Lilith. It is very important to keep Arwen safe. She is precious to me. But you know of your self, you know of the curse, you know of your hands..."

"I know." Lilith says, before Elrond has finished his sentence. The manners is not important now, she must get the job. "But I swear that I will wear the gloves all the time, no, I will wear four gloves at once all the time if you mind. I swear that I will not let her get hurt at all, I will use all my ability to keep her safe from danger."

"Lilith, have you seriously considered," Elrond sighs, "I've known you for all those years, and I know that you belong to war. But Arwen does not. Are you really ready, to take this responsibility?"

"Yes, my Lord," Lilith says wholeheartedly, "I will put my whole heart in. I'm sure of that."

"Well then," Elrond says after a long period of taciturnity, "Arwen is one of the people I hold most dear in this world. I believe that you will serve her well. But because of that, because I want to prevent accident, I will give you a pair of new gloves to wear inside of your regular gloves. Tomorrow, those will be sent to your room. You may leave now, and do what you should be doing." He nods.

"Hannon le!" Lilith bows again, and almost shouts in joy, she pretends to be calm and when she reaches where Elrond can't see her, she starts to dance back to her chamber in joy.

"Hey Lilith, what happened to you today? Nice clothes though." Dorcalen says as he walks passes Lilith with smile.

"I am not going to be merely a warrior anymore!" Lilith gives a cry in delightedness.

* * *

Lilith puts on that pair of white, prickly new gloves, which brings her much comfort, then covers it with the regular blue gloves she wears. She promised Lord Elrond to not to reveal it to anyone. She rushes to the fountain and get a full basin of clear water, and then brings it to Arwen's chamber.

She walks so carefully, like this is the most important thing of her whole life. She knocks and Arwen let her in.

"Lady Arwen," Lilith bows and put the basin on the marble slabs, "morning." She curtsies.

"Thank you, Lilith." Arwen replies. Lilith is quite surprised that Lady Arwen actually knows her name. She helps Arwen to dress up and ready for breakfast. Lilith is surprised again of herself that actually she can do these things really well. When Lilith brushes Arwen's long, dark hair, Arwen says to her: "You know, Lilith, I never had a servant. And I think I don't need one," Lilith suddenly freezes, but feels much relieved when she hears Arwen's full sentence, "but still, it is good to have someone to talk with. Most of the time in my life, I am alone. After my mother sailed away, I feel even more solitary." Lilith nods, and ties her hair together.

Then Arwen goes off to breakfast with her brothers and father alone, in which Lilith goes to the forest practicing surgery and archery. She sets up some model archery targets and shoots with pleasure. After about 1 hour, she tidies up the targets and retrieves the arrows. Then she starts to practice surgery with the air. After that, she prepares what to teach for the afternoon's troop training. When she goes back to Rivendell buildings, it is already noon.

The troop training is regular as other days, in which Lilith hopes faithfully that she really contributes something to Rivendell Armies. But after the training, when she is ready to left, Nellethiel calls her name.

"Nelle, what's the matter?" Lilith's boot hits the ground heavily as she walks towards Nellethiel.

"Is everything okay at the time? I heard from Dorcalen that you are now a maid of Lady Arwen's. Why? Did you feel better than the other days? Do you still feeling the curse? Is the gloves I made okay for you? Are they still working properly?" Nellethiel asks worrying, she is very tall and fair.

"Everything is alright," Lilith answers, "it is my own will to serve Lady Arwen. Your gloves are amazing, and I really like the heavenly blue color. Thank you, Nellethiel, for all you have done for me. I feel wonderful." She looks at Nellethiel faithfully.

Suddenly, Nellethiel notices something. Wrinkles, one, two, three and four, all over Lilith's face, lying here and there. Now she is looking as old as a mortal woman in her eightieth year. Her eyes turbaned with no light at all. Nellethiel suddenly feel very worried, she gets the mirror from her pocket, and shows Lilith.


	5. Chapter 4 The Revealing Destiny

**Chapter 4 The Revealing Destiny**

When Eli has finally opens his eyes, what he sees is only the ceiling. He doesn't know what has happened to him, he just remembered that he fainted. He didn't know why. He doesn't know what has actually happened, but the thing is, he is now in a shelter, in a bed with comfortable silk as quilts. No one is around. He is still a bit dizzy, but with the curiosity that flows inside his blood, he gets up with a bit of difficulty. He observes the room.

One thing he can be sure is that this is not a normal-styled room at all. He has dwelled and delayed in both elvish and men's inns and houses, he is really familiar with them. He've never seen a kind of room like this. This is not a dwarvish room either, because the shelves and furnitures are all above an average dwarf's height. The objects are really strange: there are incense fragrant with smokes arising at his bedside; a hand fan is set beside his pillow; there is a delicate cup with complicate patterns on it on the shelf in front of him, inside it is tea, but he've never seen a cup of tea so green and so clear and with full incense of plant. This is weird, Eli thinks, this is not even supposed to be in this world at all. Maybe it is a brand new race? A clan? Eli is curious who is there.

Just at this particular moment, a lady comes in. She is indeed strange: yellowish skin, black hair untied, smooth skin and the face both combines youth and maturity, the clothes she is wearing is just a long, long robe with complicate patterns on it, though she is not a teacup at all. She is not beautiful, but she is attractive. You cannot get your eyes off her once you have seen her, especially if you never seen this kind of people before and have a bunch of questions that you want to ask. Just now, Eli is to astonished to ask any questions.

"My name is Leya," The lady starts to speak in common tongue with a strong and strange accent, but Eli can understand her, "pleasure to meet you, elf from the west. My husband found you near our house when he went out hunting."

"Eli, Eli from Rivendell," Eli says politely, "but how did you find me? I remember I was on high pass and I see no village nor houses there."

The lady smiles mysteriously, she nods, "The Predetermined Fate has brought you here, my dear friend. Come with me if you body's status allows, the Presbyter wants to speak with you."

* * *

"There are some who says that fate is bound by nature," The Presbyter stands by his podium, and says with a loud and clear voice. His hair is snow-white, and his eyes full of sorrow and history, "there are also persons who says that fate is controlled by our own hand. We believe in both statements. We are predictors." He says with a glance upon Eli, then looks at him faithfully.

"My Lord... Why am I here?" Eli tries to say something as respectfully as possible, because he knows that the Presbyter is like the Lord in other realms. But as he tries to say it with manners, it just appears to be very impolite.

"My wife, Leya has taken care of you throughout these days, fortunately you are just out of energy. You are well after we fed you. You must have a bunch of questions you wanted to ask." The Presbyter says with a smile, as Eli notices that he has the same accent with the lady Leya.

"Yes, My Lord..." Eli says, and lowers his head.

"Clan Yao, the Hidden Realm on High Fields, has been away from the world's vision for almost a thousand years. We are those people with yellow skin and greenish-black hair, who knows how to do alchemy and cast spells upon people, who use the river water to presage and divine, who has their very own special culture, but also strong and indestructible bounds and powers. We are those who has their own dreams and wishes, but alas, the Predetermined Fate has trapped us here, beside the Gladden River, away from the outside world. We use our powers to build an enchantment to keep us invisible, to keep the world far away. But you, my dear Ril, you are the one who carries the hope. The hope to us. This is no chance meeting of us. You will be the one who can change the Predetermined Fate of our race."

"But... How is this ever related to me, my Lord? What do you mean by the Predetermined Fate? Why is you trapped here?" Eli asks.

"It is a mistake that can't be unmade. It is a mistake made by our ancestors long ago." The Presbyter shakes his head, "Long, long ago, when the world's still young. Our ancestors were the people, those elves fallen into the dark powers. Although we were not born evil, but their depravation affected our ancestor. We were changed to yellow skin, no longer white and pure. But we had not lost the ability of charming and skills in alchemy. It is miserable, they were tortured and their heart distorted, and then," The Presbyter suddenly stops, his eyes full of tears, "they became orcs."

Eli was never astonished as he is now. He could not say another word.

"Then we chose to leave. We left the other elves in shame and started to live another life of our own. My dear friend, I know of your sister. I have been watching her long ago. You two, will decide the fate of our race. The breaking of the spell is vital, but it is very hard and you will need my help."

"Why?" Eli says, his heart extracting.

"Because I created it." The Presbyter says calmly, with a sigh.


	6. Chapter 5 Just A Reason

**Chapter 5 Just A Reason**

"Hi there." As Eli walks by the lake, a boy catches his eye. The boy greets him with a shy face. His eyes are deep black, his skin yellow like all people here, his face pure and innocent, his ear a bit pointy. This suddenly reminds Eli of himself, when he and Lilith ride to Rivendell and seeked the help of Lord Elrond, he was an elf boy like this one too. Unaware of the dangers of the outside world, with a pure heart fulfilled with hope and sorrow. He stops and squats, and replies to the boy, "Hello. What's your name?"

"Hao. It means proud in our language." The boy sits by the lake and stares at Eli. He doesn't have the accent that the Presbyter and lady Leya used to have, "I know of you. We've been hoping for your arrival for so many years."

"You speak very good common tongue." Eli says to Hao.

"That's because I was a messenger like you," Hao says, "and I am 1000 years old."

"Wow, why? You are so small." Eli feels cold. Something must be terribly wrong with this clan. "What happened to you?"

"You've met my mother, Lady Leya and my father the Presbyter. They've told you little about our ancestors, but they didn't tell you all about our clan and the most important reason of why we need you. Eli, you need to uncover the truth." Hao says worriedly, "Each of our clansman suffers from a curse. They are born with it. Every curse is different. Whenever a new baby is born, they'll take the child to the riverside. By the Gladden river they will rise a ritual with the river water and they will uncover whatever curse is set upon the child. My mother's curse is whenever she touches something she will feel pain, my curse is to never grow up and be weak in the child's form. My father, because he is the leader of our clan, suffers everyday a different curse from the other clansmen. Yet we endured, because there is another curse that has been set upon everybody that no one is able to break, and that is we can never leave this piece of land. The curses are because of a mistake made by my father long ago, and he created a master curse. The person that bears the master curse will suffer the most. But once the master curse is broken, then we are all free. We need to suffer no more and we can go wherever we want." He says with huge sorrow.

"Is that master curse set upon my sister Lilith?" Eli asks urgently.

"Yes, mister, you are very clever. My father knows how to break it, but since he is the creator of the curse and he cannot break the curse himself, he will need huge amount of courage to tell you the ways because he will suffer from huge pain after he does so. He may die, he may disappear, no one knows what will happen to him. But if you failed to break the curse, mister, then all of our hard works will go into the vain. My clansmen will still suffer, your sister will still suffer, the world will still grow darker, and there is only one chance. When you failed you will not able to do it again because there is one clause in the steps that requires one persons life."

"So that's why the Presbyter didn't tell me about those." Eli says, "He doesn't want me to worry about the clansmen and himself and he doesn't want me know that this is the only chance."

"Yeah. And the burning wax on your bedside, that is made from nature substances. We burn it and the smell soothes our pain. Aromatherapy we call it." Hao says.

"Oh..." Eli nods, "The Yao people are very wise."

"Yes. Yao in our language means far away. We are the elves far away from the mortal lands. We created another language of our own that is very different from Sindarin and Quenya, but we still learn it and every single one of our clansman can speak at least 3 different language: Yin, Sindarin and Common Tongue." Hao put his hands in the river water, "The water of Gladden River is our friend. It hears us, we use it to conjure spells and do rituals, our lives are bonded. We love it, it loves us."

"Can you... Do you have power also?" Eli asks. He is fascinated by Hao, and the things he told him. This question jumps out from his throat.

"Yes." Hao nods with no smile. "I will show you."

Slowly Hao lifts his hand with his palms facing up, with his whole concentration he focuses closely on his hands. Gradually, the clear river water starts to follow his hands and rise. Hao becomes happier and happier as the water goes up with him. "With every single thread of power we release, we actually become stronger in power and feel more relieved and comfortable, as if we are flowing west of the great sea." He says, and then he starts to make all kinds of patterns using water in the air. Hao is so delightful, as if he is freed from the curse. At last, when Eli has finished the feast of vision, Hao makes the waters descent to the ground. When they touch the ground, the waters makes a dark blue blast and changes form into the new-grown grass. Eli is also very delighted to see the display of Hao's power, and he feels relieved, too.

"Come with me now, to the Hall of the Past and Present, if you are courageous enough. I had never went into it before, because it holds a test specially for us. It requires huge amount of braveness, cleverness and faithfulness. I was scared and lingered in the shadow, hesitated to go in, but now I think I can go. Together with you, I feel safe and fearless. My friend, Eli from Rivendell, son of Caladar, although you have not talked much, but I earned lot from you. I can see it in your eyes. You give me faith, and hope." Hao smiles, he takes Eli's hand, and walks forward to a castle.


	7. Chapter 6 Now to Fear No More

**Chapter 6 Now to Fear No More**

"You know, Hao, I wonder, what is your units of time? Because the days seems always cloudy, and there are no nights at all. This is indeed a strange realm." Eli asks on the road with curiosity, while Hao is walking.

"Um, Eli, there is no time here. We follow the chronology of the world, but what we have here is only the present. The past is long behind us, and we are stuck in one place. We could never grew old. There is no future either, the future is never there for the clansmen of Yao, the descendent of the dark-elves." Hao says. He seems very calm, as if it is a fact that have been set long ago.

"Hao, you don't deserve this. You, your clansmen, your father and mother, they are all kind individuals. You have dedicated much for this world, even it is unaware of your existence. You should be living fairly and freely, with no curse. For what you have done has surely mended the mistake of you ancestor. Is it, Hao? Hao? Why are you not talking?"

"Well, Eli, the mistake of our ancestor can never be mended. As long as there is orcs haunting in this world, it is a mistake and it is still there. But speak of breaking the curse, Eli, that is for you to decide our fate. But now say no more! For no one shall enter the Hall of the Past and Presence with noise and sadness in their heart. Eli, my friend, now lo and behold! The greatest hidden castle in the world is right before your eyes." Hao says with delightfulness.

Now Eli can say no word once more. This is indeed an astonishing realm. What is before him is a castle with great fountains that has passed over the skills of the other elves, men and dwarves. The castle is transparent, and it reflects light. Like a big mirror with no reflections it stands in the middle of all things. When you stares straight at it, you will feel that the world is away, and you want to do nothing but keep admiring it, till the time comes to an end. And no language, nor words are able to describe the greatness of the castle but the most delicate and exquisite wonder in the world. Henceforth no buildings are able to exceed the skills of this building. Soon Eli has discovered that the castle itself is a huge fountain. As Hao's hand waves, the water comes out from all angles, shooting towards the sky, reflecting the sun and creating rainbows, it is not merely a wonder anymore. It is the thing that you see that cleans your heart, make you think of nothing more that the castle itself and the peacefulness and the philosophy of the Clan Yao's hiding from the world. You would not dare to enter the castle, and you will fear only that you will tarnish the castle, purer and cleaner than anything else.

"How does this... Hao, my friend, how does this even come to life?" Eli whispers.

"Well, my father build this using his powers and for the purpose of holding test to our clansman so they will be able to fully know who they are and who they were, and to understand the curse and their powers. It holds a test that is different for everyone. And there are some people that will not able to pass it. But with you beside, I fear no more." Hao uses his hand gesture and opens the door, then he walks into it as if it is plain ground.

"Hao..." Eli says, "How could you even possibly walk on the water?"

And yes. The ground in the castle is all clear water, deep down to the heart of the earth.

"Oh, I'm sorry Eli! I forgot to build an enchantment for you. Here you are," As Hao stretches his hand, a round transparent light circle appears centering Eli, "Now you can walk."

"Well, what is an enchantment?" Eli asks.

"A enchantment is just like a veil, it separates you from the reality and creates a unique time and space of your own. Now come in, you can walk on the water. Come with me, Eli, and you shall surprise yourself once more."

Eli follows Hao and walks into the castle. He watches Hao's steps as he walk. His steps are so light and beautiful to watch, as the top of his feet touches the water and makes a ripple. Then another one, then another one, like a line they doesn't break. It brings you serenity, and you feel wonderful watching it. Eli walks with Hao till the end of the hall, where Hao creates a small door using his power, and then both of them walks in.

Then it is darkness, eternal darkness, Hao tries to make light but he cannot. Hao is very calm, he know that it is a test, so he stands bravely to the darkness and shouts, "O Fountain Castle, the greatest buildings of all ages, give me thy test! I shall not fear nor flinch, because of the great friend is by my side. Give me thy test! I fear no darkness and I shall go forth! I pledge my honor and life to thou, if I shall fail at any point of thy test. But before thou put any ordeal on me, I shall introduce Eli from Rivendell, son of Caladar to thou. He will be the savior of our race and henceforth, thou shall remember his name! Now thou can begin!"

Eli is once again moved by the courage and determination in Hao's heart. Before, Eli thinks that Hao and him is very alike, but he knows now, deep in his heart that Hao is very different. Very, very different. He has the courage, faith and hope that only a clansman of Yao has, which Eli isn't even dare to think about. Hao is mature, he is even to mature for a one-thousand-year-old elf. He is thinking about the thing, freedom, fate, bounds, relations, and most importantly the future of his clan. When Eli was one thousand years old, he was not even bothering to think about that even for a little. The elves need a lot of time to awake themselves' awareness and to recognize who they are, but Hao doesn't need that lot of time. He is already as mature as an elf at the age of three thousands. To him, Eli is of no importance. With him, Eli feels himself negligible, but of course in a good way. Eli admire Hao, not only because of those precious personal qualities that he shows, but also because of his heart. Tortured by the curse and outside powers, he is still holding onto his faith and keep his heart cleaner and purer than anyone he ever saw.

"Thou can begin." Hao states his thought once more to the Castle, and then creates an enchantment that will protect him while the castle is busy conducting his test.

"Why would thou come to me? And why would you bring a so-called friend with thee? Don't thou know that I do not like visitors? Hao son of Han the Presbyter, why would thou not enjoy thy days not coming of age, but wishing for maturity?" A voice, appearing from nowhere speaks to Hao, that sound shocking and frightening, it brings a shadow and builds up a sense of horror in you heart that makes you immediately fear. Hao trembles, but he soon comes back to sedation. He conjures a light in the dark, and Eli can see that he has put in great effort to keep the light on, he says clearly word by word, "I will take thy test as my clansmen, my brothers do. I am not scared of thee! Put thy test on me, and I shall survive."

"Oh, naïve little Hao," The voice from nowhere says in a pity pitch, "do thou not know that a grave danger is before you? For each of those dooms lost in time, there was a mistake made before it." The voice ended up somewhat stating morals.

"I fear not!" Hao says, "I have done no mistake, so it will not be my doom! I will pass this test, as my clansmen does! I shall reborn in thy radiance, but not to perish. If thou are so determined, then tell me what did thou foreseen. Tell me what my doom will be!"

"Well, well, well," The voice says with a tricky pitch, "I will tell thee when thou passed the test. Now shall we begin, little Hao?"

Hao nods with a tremble, and then stands straight. The power circles starts to appear in his hands, and now he is ready to attack.

* * *

Two light appears in the dark, great distance lies between Hao and the lights. Using his powers, Hao ascends from the ground and he lift the enchantment he build – so he brings Eli with him. He goes so fast as a star is crashing to ground, towards the light. And what he sees crashes him down to pieces. He sees his parents in an enchantment, the Presbyter and Lady Leya in a painful situation – a person, dressed in whole black, is torturing and slashing them. Their powers are gone, and the person's face is unclear. Hao kneels and trembles, but he soon goes back to normal and shouts,

"I am not deceived! My father created thee, so how could thou torture him? And how could they lost their powers? These are all illusions and lies!"

"Impressive thinking, little Hao," The voice answers immediately, "but thou are wrong again. If thou don't believe it, go into the enchantment then. But because thou are the son of my creator, I will open mercy to you so you could get a little less hurt: You can only go into one enchantment. This is protected by special spells. So now it just left you a question, the only question: Whom do you save?"

"Whom do I save?" Hao asks himself in the heart, "Mother or Father?" He knows that if he would choose without thinking, he will save Lady Leya. Mother has always loved him and cared for him a lot more than father, who is always busy with the clan things. His father is also more strict and unforgivable in some ways. Old, unhappy memories floats up to Hao's mind.

Eli beside is just watching Hao think, silently with support in his heart. He wishes that Hao can suceed.

Hao decided that he will save father. Because the clan needs him, there will be no person appropriate of being the Presbyter other than him. The clan need the Presbyter a little more than need Lady Leya. Although Lady Leya is also important, but not as important as the Presbyter. Hao takes a deep breath, then charges with his hands in front of him into the Presbyter's enchantment.

As the man in black turns around, he fires the power onto his face, which made no effort. Then he realized that he will not be able to fight back the man. So he takes his father's hand and runs out of the enchantment. He closes the enchantment using his power, so the man in black will be sealed in it. He then builds another enchantment for the Presbyter, before he is to talk, and then charges into the enchantment Lady Leya was in. But he strikes the enchantment wall and falls onto the ground. He then stands up not giving up, and strikes again with his power onto the enchantment, but his father stops him.

"Well done, Hao, I know the reason. I know what you are thinking. Well done, your mother and me are both saved." The Presbyter says with a smile, and then fades away with Lady Leya. Thus Hao knows that he passed the first level. He turns back to Eli with heavy breath and a victorious smile.

"It will become harder and harder, isn't it?" Eli asks, "Since the first one was already a lot of challenge, I can guess how clever and brave your clansmen must be. The end of this test, we will reach the Hall of Past and Present, right?"

Hao nods, "Yes, it is the end of this journey. The test, it is bidding on our lives," he says, "because elves can die of heavy sadness, this you know, and we the dark-elves have more chance of dying of this than the normal elves. I guess every mission will be bidding on our lives."

"Certainly it will be." Eli answers, "And you need to be more careful. After all your form is just too small for somethings. You know, try your best but do not try too hard. I've watched. These things can really break your heart."

The Castle strikes once again before Eli has finished speaking. This time, it is a big power tornado spiraling towards Hao. Hao doesn't even hesitate for one second, he raises his hand and strikes back. He builds an enchantment to protect himself and then charges into the middles of the tornado, trying to break it. He successes. The tornado breaks into small black delicate particles, and then becomes sound. As the sound starts to vibrate, Eli knows what it is.

A Nazgul's scream, an evil sound that was heard long ago in distant lands. Very few is able to bear it, not even Eli himself. The enchantment breaks and Eli stretches painfully on the ground. He knows that this is just a simple step, he knows that he cannot scream or else he will draw Hao's attention away. He twitches, and at the end it was more than he could bear. He gives a cry, and with that cry Hao turns back and sees him suffer.

"Eli!" Hao screams in astonishment, then he builds another enchantment for him, but it is no use. Hao raises his hands and shouts in an ancient tongue that is long lost,

"Ha tinve kari estanca, ti vans en! Unni en pa le, co Lyvn esto Lantya!" It is loud, clear and strong, can be heard all over the place. Eli feels refreshed when he hears every single syllable of the spell. Suddenly, the Nazgul cry stops, and replaced by a peaceful traditional piece of music of Yao people, called Harmony. Eli had listened to it before, he is determined that he had. It brings him back to the memories of old, memories of holding a bow, trembling and sweating, and a soft voice that says, "Don't be afraid and look straight to your target." after that the elf plays him this music... Such kind of familiar feelings... But why can't him just remember it?

All of a sudden, the tornado and the music vanish. Hao breathes heavily in pleasure, he knows that he has passed the test that the Castle gives once more. He turns back and gives Eli a successful smile, and Eli nods with smile as a reply to that.

"Well, that is not very hard, but somehow I need not to do the rest of the test." Hao smiles and helps Eli stand up.

"Why?" Eli asks, he is very curious yet feels relieved about that.

"Because the castle says so. It told me while I turns the tornado into music that I trie to do something that no one has done before. But indeed, nobody remembers this ancient useful spell. I read it on a dusty scroll which holds many useful spells of healing and pacifying. I don't think anyone else will pay attention to the ancient scrolls and books that we have in the storage. They are very effective and easy to control. You see, Eli, my powers are far more weaker that some of our clansmen, but they just pay no heed to small things of the world." Hao replies in a jolly pitch, then lifts himself and Eli's enchantment again: "The door is over there."

They kind of blast in front of the door. Now that is what Eli sees – such a door that he has never seen before! The dark-brown colored wooden door is decorated with delicate carvings of mist, and there is two small unclear figures carved standing in the middle of the mist, the only thing Eli can recognize is that the figures are holding hands. And as Eli comes near, he finally recognizes the figures – the one standing at the right, with pure, long white hair and a sorrow face is the Presbyter; and the one standing at the left side, with black, long smooth hair and two beautiful eyes is Lady Leya. Eli smiles wholeheartedly, and then turns around and asks Hao, "Why aren't you up there?"

"Don't do this to me, Eli," Hao giggles, "they are rulers of the clan and I am not."

And then there comes a long-termed silence. Eli doesn't know how to reply to that. After about three or four minute or so, Hao breaks the silence.

"Well, anyway, let's set that aside, Eli, my friend, behind this door is the Hall of Past and Presence, the hall in the Castle that has the most content, push through it and see a brand new world, my friend.


	8. Chapter 7 The Race with No Future

**Chapter 7 The Race with No Future**

With his full strength Eli pushes through the massive carven wooden door, and so it strikes a beautiful sound that only works with wooden objects. What is before Eli is emptiness, white, transparent emptiness. So they are able to walk on emptiness, but there isn't a floor if you really go and feel it, and out of nothing they are just somewhat able to walk. Eli walks his every single step very carefully, and being apprehensive of hurting or disturb the pureness of the ground. Eli doesn't find this place special, and as the door behind them closes and disappears, Eli asks Hao,

"Hao... Why is this place called that name? It has hardly anything in it but white, large infinite emptiness."

"...Or is it?" Hao smiles and catches the sentence before Eli has finishes speaking. And with Hao's words Eli sees a large, long sewing canvas unfolds before him. Moreover, moreover, the canvases filles all over the place. And they are all white. White as the pure snow in the winter times. Nothing was on them. But slowly, the canvases starts to develop. The paints and threads on it starts to appear. The paints and threads starts with light tan color, and only the outside lines of the figures and drawings are shown on the canvases. But after a while, the paints and threads becomes colorful, the canvases are soon filled with beautiful full details, even the tiniest bit like dew on the grass is shown unconcealed.

A strange feeling comes up to Eli's mind. He has not yet recognizes what the feeling is about. He is not as astonished as he thought himself will be, but he has seen this kind of thing before, he is sure of that. He turns around and asks Hao when browsing the contents of the canvases:

"Is is... All of your clan... Yao's history?"

"Em-hmm." Hao agrees.

"And is it something like... Something like... Like Hall of Mandos?!" Eli asks with a slightly weak and fearful pitch.

"Bingo!" You can actually see the delightedness shown on Hao's face, "It is like the Hall of Mandos of our race. It has all of the things happened in our realm in the past and the things happening weaved upon the white, magical canvases by a spell that is controlled by the clansmen. And also, all of our dead clansmen rests here. They cannot reach Hall of Mandos before our souls are freed from the spells. They wander here and watch over their families and relatives, even they cannot meet one another again. They are unseen and invisible to us, but they are everywhere. Surrounding us, watching us, and give us their best blessings." Hao lifts his hand as he stares faithfully into the white emptiness, as if he is to feel the unseeable existence of the spirits of the Yao clansmen, "Do you hear the tiny whispers coming from nowhere, Eli, my friend? It is the emptiness itself but the airy remaining of the souls that were once bold. Don't you feel them everywhere, give you very best of their blessings in Yin and many ancient tongues that is now lost?"

"Well, I didn't feel anything but small waves." Eli replies as he keeps his eyes wide open with concentration and curiosity as if he is to see and put everything into his eyes, looking onto the canvases.

"Oh, seriously?" Hao puts down his hands and wears a facial expression of disappointment, "You aren't romantic at all, Eli."

"Haha, I have been informed of that only recently." Eli smiles unconsciously, just for a moment of blast Valadhiel passes his mind. Her voice, stating "You were never a gentleman" appears once more in Eli's head. But is that really what he lacks? Is that because of a childhood without mother? To get it out of his mind, Eli closes his eyes and shakes his head. He continues on reading the canvases, "It ends here. Right at this moment of us reading the canvases. Hao, why? Your clansmen are wise, the Presbyter is of brilliance, but why does it ends here? Do you not have any predictions about the futures?"

"Well, Eli," Hao lowers his head in much of a sorrow, "believe it or not, we are the race without future. Every single day's every new minutes' could be our last second to live in this world. We are unpredictable, every moment could be our last day and there may be no chance for us to even leave a note to this world. Eli, it is up to you to save us..."

"Hao," Eli breaks in, "you've talked so much, so much about me to save your race, but how exactly? You have not told me the way of doing it, and I cannot, I can definitely not find it by my own. Tell me," He squats and holds Hao's hands, just like how Elrond did to him thousand years ago, "How, do I break the curse for Yao?"

But Hao feels something. He knows that it is not right. He blinks and sees Eli fading, his body's color becoming lighter and lighter. He knows what it is. The Predetermined Fate has abandoned him. The Predetermined Fate Eli had with the clan Yao is about to end. "Eli...?" Hao calls Eli's name with a trembling voice.

"Yes... Hao, your color is fading." Eli replies also in much of astonishment, "How does this happen? What will be done upon me?"

"Your Predetermined Fate with the clan Yao is about to be ended. You have only two hours left of seeing our clan, and then you will be left over with your horse on the Gladden Field, and our clan will remain hidden from your sight and you will not be able to met us ever again." Hao grabs Eli's right hand, "Come, come, come quickly with me, we are going to my father's hall."

Hao makes an enchantment for Eli, and himself rising from the ground again. And once more, as if they are flying, they goes as fast as thunders to the ground towards the Great Hall of the Presbyter.


	9. Lili's Note

**Lili's Note**

Okay. It suddenly occurred to me that I probably need to write some notes about From the Riverside (Short as FR below). Basically I will just explain some confusing parts in the story and the meaning of some of the OC's names. Please enjoy my work – this took me lots of time! :)) AND PLEASE R&R

Reminders

It is an AU fanfic!

I am a productive author, especially at writing thing I love. But if I gone for a while then returns with 4000 words or something like that, it happens.

There probably will be a prequel to FR after I finished. I will not abandon it. I estimate that Eli & Lilith will stay with me for one year or at least 8 month. Still, the description and understanding to the cannon characters combines the movie and the book. There will be mistakes and PLEASE pm me if you see one.. There will not be romance between cannon characters and OC, but only OC to OC. You are greatly appreciated if you leave a review, and it will sure please me and make me dancing around the whole day if you leave a formal one :)

Name Meanings

_Eli: _Prominent, brilliance. Source: Hebrew

_Lilith: _Belongs to night, night fairy Source: Jewish Myth

_Caladar: _Noble light, royal light Source: Sindarin

_Tethair: _Willow, willow tree Source: Sindarin

_Ril: _Glory, glorious Source: Sindarin

_Evy: _Evening, evening time Source:Own Creation

_Dorcalen: Green _Land, greenish dwelling place, nature region Source: Sindarin

–-Q&As & Explanations–-

Spells and Foreign Languages

The spell that Hao shouts in Chapter 6 means "The Unbearable Rumble, shut and listen to me! I turn thy noise into Harmony!"

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**THERE WILL BE NO MORE UPDATES BEFORE JUNE 1ST SINCE I'M WORKING ON OTHER ONE-SHOTS**


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